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From
Walter Higgins, President, Houston Hawks RC Soaring
May
31st, 2008
The
HAWKS held a club meeting at the field today prior
to starting the days flying. Those present were,
Walter Higgins, Tommy Lamnek, Alan Jones, Steve
Gibson, Boby Fussell, John Hill, Dean Peterson, George
Pierce and Dick Roddy. We discussed several issues
including the position of club president.
Keith
Blair our current president had expressed a
desire to vacate the office of president so that he
might devote more time to other things and bring more
fun back into r/c soaring. Since I am currently
vice-president it was decided that I would move into
the office of president and Boby Fussell would fill
out the remainder of my term as vice-president.
The
next issue discussed was club equipment. Our club
winches are getting old and have a difficult time
launching the new generation of r/c sailplanes so it
was decided that we would upgrade two of the club
winches to the new Injoy motors. These motors are
nearly five horse power and have ball bearings instead
of bushings. Tommy Lamnek is going to obtain with club
funds two Injoy motors, two adapter plates and four
solenoids capable of handling the higher load. When
these parts arrive we are going to have an assembly
party to upgrade the two winches.
Next
we decided that the club contest for June will be
a RES MOM. June 7th will be the date and the pilots
meeting will be at 0930. So get out your RES ship and
dust it off and come out next weekend and have some
MOM RES fun.
I
Hope to see all of you HAWKS at the contest.
Walter
April
2008
GETTIN’ READY…..
Lone Star Soaring Series – May 3rd
It looks like we’ll have a good turnout – the other clubs
are expecting 4-6 people from each one to arrive. Let’s give them
a good Houston Hawks welcome; but don’t be afraid to out-fly them.
We’re doing pretty well with our volunteers, but we can always
use some extra hands on ‘contest day’ so please look for
a way to help out.
At our last club meeting, we decided to simplify our logistics by passing
on providing food. The club will provide soft drinks and water, leaving
the choice of food up the discretion of each pilot. To fund this and
other fees (LSS pilot fee, awards, port-a-potty) we’re planning
to charge $15 for the first task and $10 for the second. The ‘extra’
$5 is to cover those extraneous charges and still give the club a chance
to earn a few dollars.
Lastly – watch the website and the newsgroup on Thursday May 1st.
That will be when and where we post our go/no-go decision on weather.
To allow those who will be traveling to make a rational and timely decision,
particularly if they might be leaving on Friday, we’ll make the
call by 6:00 pm CDT on Thursday May 1st.
Club Equipment Maintenance
First of all, we’re doing pretty well with our treasury and our
primary expense is winch and retriever maintenance. Also, we have a
couple of members that bring their own personal equipment to the field
for others to use. This is very generous of them and it really helps
out the club.
I’m one of the winchmasters who has all club equipment. Those
who have been out at the field lately have probably noticed that the
retriever battery (Everlast) doesn’t last so long. As we’ve
had good experience with the Optima batteries, the membership agreed
to purchase another one to replace the Everlast. These are expensive
batteries, but they seem to standup well to the abuse we give them.
We hope to have the newest one before the contest.
Bill Estill has done another outstanding job for us by building an automatic
bailer for the retriever I keep. It works great – now I just have
to remember to bring the handle extension. Also, it looks like the spindle
bearings have finally given up. I’ll be trying to find a replacement
this week.
Lastly, we’re running into a whole bunch of line breaks lately.
Lately we’ve been able to cut out the bad line and keep going
because Walter has us all practicing on short winch lines, but I’ve
ordered some replacement line that we’ll be putting on the equipment
soon. It’s always trouble while we work out the twists and inevitable
breaks that occur with new line – please bear with us and recognize
that it’s better to happen before we have our contest on the 3rd.
All-season Fliers
My bad – I keep forgetting to get pictures. Please remind me when
we’re out at the field
-Keith
February
3, 2008
SUPERBOWL SUNDAY!
Three topics for this “building season”
1. Preparing and
planning for the LSS (LoneStar Soaring Series)
2. All-season fliers
3. That dreaded ‘maintenance’ stuff
Lone Star Soaring Series – May 3rd
May 3rd will be here before you know it and that’s the date we
host the opening of this year’s LSS. We’ll need lots of
Houston Hawks to participate and help with the hosting. Walter was ‘volunteered’
to be the CD and is looking for some help in running the contest.
We can’t rest on our laurels either. There will be some tough
competition gunning for us in 2008 and with the scoring format, the
more Hawks that show up, the better our chances of winning. Even better,
the more practice we get in, the better each of us will do. To that
end, every Saturday, we’ll have an impromptu and simple opportunity
for everyone to try a flight and landing task. Simple, easy, and very
educational.
All-season Fliers
For those that are interested in obtaining your All Season Flier patch,
I’ll be trying to record your monthly achievement. As an up-to-date
computer user, that will be through digital pictures or on the newsgroup
postings. Of course, we’ll have to impose on our webmaster to
keep some sort of standings and our Secretary to sign your application.
I know it’s a tough thing to accomplish, but those hardy Houston
Hawks are up to the task!
Airplane Maintenance
I know this ranks right up there with some of that motherly advice,
and frankly I still have some things I need to attend to. But, it still
needs to be said. Take this not-so-great-flying-weather opportunity
to check over your beloved airplanes. The time you spend now may save
a rebuild/rekit/wallet-busting later.
You all know what to check so I won’t belabor it here, but it’s
time well spent. Now I just need to take my own advice…….
Been some good thermals the past few weeks, hope to see you all out
there.
-Keith
December
30, 2007
The
Requisite Look Back, and Looking Forward
Let’s get the bad news
out of the way first – It’s a new year, and that means it’s
time to pay your dues. No increase in cost, same as last year; $30 –
Tommy’s waiting for your check.
What a great year 2007 has
been for the Houston Hawks! The most important and notable aspect of
2007 has been the continued fun and camaraderie shared by all during
the year. I have flown with many other clubs and this is without a doubt
the one that I have enjoyed the most. It is a rare treat to be able
to associate with such fine people – thank you all!
Of course, the Hawks did
accomplish something a bit more tangible – creation (and winners)
of the South Texas Triad Series. This was so well received that the
Dallas fliers want to get in on the fun, too. In 2008, it will be known
as the LoneStar Soaring Series. This means the plaque shown here will
be retired, but it’s going to take some serious effort to make
sure the trophy comes back to Houston. There have been some changes
to the scoring format for 2008 that will strongly favor the clubs with
more members present at each contest. So we’ll be looking for
all our members to participate in this series. I know it’s an
effort to travel, but it is a really good time and the people at these
out-of-town clubs really appreciate the participation. If you’d
rather not drive, see if you can carpool with someone else – that
makes a shorter trip for everyone involved.
The Hawks are hosting the
first contest of the series on May 3rd. Mark your calendar’s now.
If you’re willing to help with running a smooth contest, let me
know. We’ll need help with winches, scoring, setting up, breaking
down, and general logistics.
In case you haven’t
noticed, the Hawks have also gotten quite a Handlaunch group going.
Thanks to Walter for organizing these contests. He’ll be hosting
these most every month and would like to invite everyone to participate.
Even if you don’t have a DLG, you can learn an awful lot about
handlaunch contests and how to thermal by coming out and timing. You
all know how important the timer is in Thermal Duration; well the timer
is even more important in handlaunch.
The Hawks have been blessed
with an unbelievably good flying field so close to a metropolitan area.
Please remember to thank the long-standing club members for their foresight
in obtaining this site and maintaining good relations with our ‘landlords’.
Keeping the field clean and not making ruts has kept us in good standing
– good job Hawks!
Our webmaster has
reminded me that I need to get our 2008 contest calendar finished. Ooops!
Watch the website to see if we can get something posted for January,
but if not we’ll definitely have something ready by February.
I’ll try to keep these
shorter in the coming months. Thanks for reading this far,
-Keith
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